This invention relates to rotary tiller used for soil conditioning.
A conventional rotary tiller includes a housing with an open bottom rotatably containing a tine shaft carrying a plurality of tine teeth. The tiller is attached to a tractor and is powered by the tractor's power take-off system (PTO) which drives a shaft or chain arrangement associated with the rotary tiller. It is also known to use a PTO driven hydraulic pump and motor arrangement to drive the tine shaft. Hydraulic motors are quieter than other drive systems and avoids alignment problems associated with shaft and chain arrangements. However, it is customary to utilize the tractor hydraulic system to derive hydraulic fluid for the pump and motor which can introduce contaminates to the pump and motor units.
Another problem encountered is predicted upon the soil conditions. In hard soil condition, the tine shaft ground engagement characteristics can cause the rear wheel of the tractor to loose traction. And, because the rotational speed of the tine shaft is much greater than the tractor speed, the tractor can be propelled forward causing a loss of operator control.